Court rejects Webcasters' plea for relief — A federal appeals court has declined to grant a petition by Webcasters to delay the onset of new royalty fees that they argue could imperil their offerings. — In a one-page order filed late Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District …

Court declines to postpone Internet radio royalty hike — Internet radio broadcasters' best hope to avoid the onset of higher royalties beginning Sunday, July 15, fell by the wayside as the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit denied a motion to postpone the onset of the new royalty regime.

Microsoft To Buy Facebook For $6 Billion? — Rumor is that Microsoft is looking to close a deal to buy Facebook for the amazing sum of six billion dollars. Henry Blodget says that while he can't confirm it, he has definitely heard that Steve Ballmer is desperately trying to make a big splash play …

Sony BMG sues CD software firm — Sony BMG Music Entertainment is suing a company that developed antipiracy software for CDs, claiming the technology was defective and cost the record company millions of dollars to settle consumer complaints and government investigations.

Google faces landmark lawsuit over sponsored links — A consumer watchdog is taking legal action against Google over the way it sells and displays its sponsored links, in a case that could "send shudders down the industry". — The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) …

Article #475: CUPS Purchased by Apple Inc. — In February of 2007, Apple Inc. acquired ownership the CUPS source code and hired me (Michael R Sweet), the creator of CUPS. — CUPS will still be released under the existing GPL2/LGPL2 licensing terms, and I will continue to develop and support CUPS at Apple.

Warner streams entire catalog of music for free on imeem — Warner Music Group is offering its entire music and video catalog for free streaming on imeem, a Web site focused on letting users share music playlists. — The music is currently live on the San Francisco startup's Web site, the company told VentureBeat Wednesday evening.

Debunking 5 Business Myths about Second Life — Recently Forbes featured a widely-cited article (reg. req.) on marketing in Second Life that was so spectacularly incorrect, it inspired me to whip up this reference guide, as the errors there keep cropping up elsewhere.

Site Plans to Sell Hacks to Highest Bidder — A Swiss Internet start-up is raising the ire and eyebrows of the computer security community with the launch of an online auction house where software vulnerabilities are sold to the highest bidder. — The founders of WabiSabiLabi.com …

Italian parliament bets house on SuSE Linux — Two-year switch to begin in September — ITALY'S parliament is about to undertake Europe's largest governmental migration yet to open sauce. — The IT department of the Italian parliament presented plans on Wednesday to begin migrating …

China's Online Population Explosion — There are now an estimated 137 million internet users in China, second in number only to the United States, where estimates of the current internet population range from 165 million to 210 million. The growth rate of China's internet user population …

Motorola Adding a PEBL To The ROKR Lineup — After adding music to the RAZR, SLVR, and most recently the RIZR, a source has confirmed that Motorola will soon announce a PEBL style clamshell for music. The ROKR U9 follows in the footsteps of the Z6 by taking on the ROKR model name and appears …